Labels

Monday, December 6, 2010

The cry heard round the world

Weight Watchers unveiled their new Points Plus Plan last week and pretty much every person I know who does WW had this to say:

WHAT DO YOU MEAN A GLASS OF WINE IS 4 POINTS!?

There are a few things that WW devotees (of which I am one) commit to memory right away: banana is 2 points, slice of pizza is 7, regular beer is 3, and most importantly, a glass of wine is 2 points.

Well, I suppose WW took a step back and examined their calculations process. Under the old plan I could have a cup of soup loaded with preservatives for fewer points than an apple, nature's toothbrush. Now all fruits and most vegetables are zero points, making it waaaaaaaaaaaay more attractive in a bang-for-your-buck-way to choose those foods than, say, a handful of Pringles.

Oh my god, I love Pringles. I know they are reconstituted potatoes but they are DELICIOUS. Unfortunately, I am staring at a stupid orange which is lovely and all but doesn't have the sort of crunch I desire. BUT! It's zero points, so it wins over 6 points of Pringles.

I'm trying to recalibrate to the new system but it's hard - I had memorized so many things and now I have to go back and look everything up. The cornerstone of the WW program is tracking what you eat. All together now, if you bite it you write it, if you snack it you track it! At the beginning of the program, there is nothing more sobering than looking back at your day of eating and realizing you ate absolutely nothing nutritious. I find that writing things down does help me make better choices. BUT! I am a busy lady! So I usually keep track of my points in my head. Also, I usually fluctuate up and down by 3-5 lbs depending on the week. PERHAPS THERE IS A CORRELATION. Anyway, the point I'm desperately trying to get to is that mayhaps I will be more diligent about tracking now that I have to look everything up again. Maybe I'll even lose some weight! That would be nice.

I am not pleased, however, that I now have to face the facts that alcohol is made of empty calories, delicious empty calories, and I have to account for those 4 points at the end of the day. Or 5 points if I want a goddamn stout!